Siege of Marina

The Siege of Marina (1496) was a battle of the Italian War of 1494-98. A combined Papal-Spanish army under Gonzalo de Cordoba besieged the fortress of Merina, which was defended by the remnants of the French forces remaining in Italy and the traitorous Orsini and Colonna families.

Background
In 1495, King Ferdinand II of Aragon was persuaded by his wife, Queen Isabella of Castile, to send Spanish troops from Sicily to the Italian mainland to drive the French from the Kingdom of Naples and the rest of the peninsula; this was done in exchange for Pope Alexander VI forcing Cardinal Francisco de Cisneros to take his seat in the College of Cardinals with a papal decree. Gonzalo de Cordoba's Spanish army forced the French garrison of Naples to surrender in July 1496, and they also liberated the city of Rome from the French, who had already begun to withdraw after King Charles VIII of France headed north with his army. Pope Alexander now sought the assistance of the Spanish in crushing the last bastion of his enemies, the fortress of Marina, where the remnants of the French Army, as well as the traitorous Orsini and Colonna families, made their base. The Spanish agreed to march on Marina after Juan Borgia convinced Cardinal Giovanni de Medici to mass-baptize the Jews of the city, a part of Queen Isabella's desired purge of the Roman Jewish population (some 1,200 people). The Pope insisted that his son Juan, Prefect of Rome and Prince of Tricarico, accompany them, as he could prove himself in battle in order to become a candidate for the throne of the Kingdom of Naples (Alfonso II of Naples made him Prince of Tricarico before abdicating).

Battle
The Spanish launched a full-force assault on the defenses of Marina, with Cordoba, his second-in-command Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, and Borgia leading the charge. Arquebusiers from both sides engaged in reciprocated volleys, while men with swords hacked and slashed at each other. Marcantonio Colonna and another noble waved the white flag as Borgia cut through French ranks, surrendering to the Papal forces; they were brought in chains to Rome, where they were thrown into a dungeon. The capture of Marina was a great victory for the Papacy, but Virginio Orsini's escape proved problematic.